W7 Graphics card

I'n running W7 pro (with a Nehalem + plenty of RAM)
so on the experience index I am getting scores in the region of 7.3- 7.5 - except for graphice which is 4.9-5.1.

I am considering a second monitor and considering a graphics card upgrade.

I need a card (or pair of...) with two DVI outs capable of at least 1920x1200
I mainly use this for business apps, but occasionally play DVDs or edit videos; so I don't need a really high end gaming graphics card

Do you have any suggestions for a cost effective, high performanc card?

well without doing any 3d gaming you really don't need anything much in the way of gpu power at all.
Yes you can offload dvd playback onto the graphics card but it's not like you're short of cpu power so it can easily handle that.
the windows experience scores don't mean much if you're not using that function.

What are you currently using?

I'd like to run two monitors -we agree I don't need a high end card, however

• the current card (GEForce 8500GT) only supports 1 DVI out
• It seems to me DVI provides better quality than the VGA style connector
• so the current card is not adequate on its own

it seems I could:

• buy a card compatible with the existing one - what plays nicely with a GEForce 8500GT? (you can't buy clones)
• Buy 1 card with 2 DVI out
• Buy 2 cards w 1 DVI out each

I was hoping for some suggestions?

Pretty much anything would do it, as long as it has a pair of DVI connectors. Had a quick look on Scan for you and it appears that most low-end cards now come with 1 DVI, 1 HDMI and maybe a VGA or S-Video port. It's just a case of looking through websites looking for the lowest priced dual DVI card (or just buy a 9500GT w/ DVI and HDMI then use a DVI-HDMI adaptor). Some sites to try;

scan.co.uk
ebuyer.com
cclonline.co.uk
aria.co.uk
overclockers.co.uk
novatech.co.uk

(have I missed any major players?)

I would stick to NVidia cards, if you buy an ATi card you'll have to wipe the NVidia drivers and install ATi ones. Not difficult, just not really worth the hassle if you're not after any particular lever of performance.

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/512MB...-DL-DVI-I-HDMI

1 DVI and 1 HDMI, low cost, low power, cool running and silent.

They normally come with a HDMI>DVI converter and there is no IQ loss as it doesn't mess with the signal at all, the video portion of HDMI is identical to DVI.

http://www.aria.co.uk/SuperSpecials/...roductId=39659

Saw that on Aria's forums. Two DVI sockets and a bit of a bargain at £23.49!

McPhee - shaithis

just the kind of thing I was after - cheers

I'm about to upgrade with a new GPU, memory and monitor, and would value advice. Presently Vista Bus. x32 on Asus M3A78-T with Phenom x4 9750, hybrid crossfire. This last seemed like a good idea on paper, (why I chose the board) but not great in practice.
I have in mind an ATI 5770 of some flavour, bump up the ram to 4gb (or 4 +existing 2gb), and an IPS monitor, after finally installing the Win 7 Pro x64 sitting on a shelf since last October.
Not my main system, I am not interested in gaming or overclocking and this will be for photo editing and video transcoding. Some will say the 5770 is overkill for my requirements. Apart from other considerations, these cards usually have a DisplayPort. Anyone with good or bad exoeriences with any of these cards?

Bill

don't know about the graphics card - but I'd consider more RAM
currently I'm running 12GB - (although part of the reason for that is an SSD and no swap file)

W7 is really good with multiple cores (you've no idea - how strange it is to say that!) - but for genuine multi-tasking you need plentiful memory